What is it about cities routinely blanketed in fog that makes them more prone to surveilling public places and faces? In London's case, maybe it's latent guilt over letting Jack the Ripper get away scot (land Yard) free. But what's San Francisco's excuse?

In a bid to make San Francisco the new uber-camera-eyes-everywhere city, CBS 5 (KPIX-TV), and Sling Media, Inc., a digital lifestyle products company, today announced the implementation of Slingbox technology combined with 3G wireless data and still video cameras to deliver live and still video feeds as well as live in-car broadcasts from around the Bay Area. (For those who haven't heard, Slingbox initially made a name for itself by allowing consumers to watch and control their living room television shows at any time, from any location, using PCs, Macs, PDAs, and smartphones.)

Currently, CBS 5 has 28 live cameras supported by Slingbox technology. Seven out of nine bridges spanning the Bay Area have a camera, as do major thoroughfares and airports. CBS 5 uses live video from these cameras on air and can also make the reports available for viewing on the CBS 5 Web site. CBS5.com also features live still views from all 28 cameras accessible at any time via a desktop, laptop, or compatible mobile Web browser. So far, the new tech has been used to cover an April 29 I-580 freeway collapse from a moving van.

While this technology marriage might be a TV news reporter's dream, it could make privacy an even scarcer commodity. Always-live cameras scattered citywide and accessible worldwide means anybody might be watching from anywhere, anytime. I'm just saying, you might want to think twice before dislodging that wedgie behind the snack shop on Pier 39.

Upside? If you do inadvertently leave your heart in San Francisco, you'll likely be able to scour car, bridge, street, and airport camera video feeds to backtrack to exactly where you left it. Pretty cool or pretty creepy? Either way, looks like when you're in the Bay Area, you're probably being televised.

Post by Jason Working